I have an older Craftsman 6 inch jointer. I squared the fence to the bed, and the 90 degree from face to edge is right on. The issue is the edge.
The outside edges touch but the center has a space about an eighth of an inch. A 16th on each board. When I clamp them it closes up.
Before I start taking everything apart I was wondering what should I look for first?
I am holding the leading edge on the outer table, against the fence. I don't push down over the knives, just the leading edge.
Is it me or?
Thanks
Jointer edge not right. What am I doing wrong.
Posts
Re: Jointer edge not right. What am I doing wrong.
#2Most likely it's an issue with the height of the outfeed table. If it's not adjustable you'll have to adjust the knives, which is a lot more difficult.
How long are the boards and how much do you remove in one pass? If the outfeed table is a little higher than the knives the back part of the board will gradually lift up as you pass it over the knives when keeping pressure on the outfeed table. The result is a concave edge, as you described. On longer boards when taking a shallow cut the trailing end of the board will get lifted up and not get cut at all, leaving a convex edge overall.
I've found that a small amount of snipe at the end of a board is easier to deal with than the effects of an outfeed table that's too high.
Re: Jointer edge not right. What am I doing wrong.
#3@Steve Elliott
Thanks I will check the outfeed table. The boards range from 14 to 48 inches long. I am not sure of the depth of cut, I know it is not much of a cut.
I will check both.
Re: Jointer edge not right. What am I doing wrong.
#4Mike,
As long as you're checking your tables, make sure that the tables are "co-planer".
They are never straight across both because there would be no "bite" for the knives. But if the infeed and outfeed are not exactly parallel, either the lip of the outfeed will act like a fulcrum to give you convex surface. If the outfdeed end is too high, it will slightly lift the board as it goes across the knives and give you a concave board.
To check. use a good straight metal 3' ruler. Raise the infeed all the way and move the rule flat on the outfeed and towards the other end of the infeed. Watch to see if the gap between the rule and the infeed surface changes. If you have to, you can use a feeler gauge set to check the gap.
If you need to adjust the tables, consult your owner's manual for the procedure for your model. If you don't have the manual (imagine that
), run an internet search as many manuals are available on line.
good luck
Re: Jointer edge not right. What am I doing wrong.
#5
Not sure if this helps...
https://www.woodcentral.com/forkbb/search/advanced/craftsman%20jointer%20adjust/%2A/%2A/0/0/0/0
https://www.woodcentral.com/forkbb/search/advanced/craftsman%20jointer%20adjust/%2A/%2A/0/0/0/1
Changing the last zero to a one display results by topic which sometimes helps of a search returns lots of results. All can be accessed using the forum Advanced Search:
https://www.woodcentral.com/forkbb/search/advanced
Re: Jointer edge not right. What am I doing wrong.
Solution #6Thanks got it fixed.
The outfield table was a bit low.
I checked the in feed and out feed table with a 4 foot level. No gaps under it. Set the out feed table so the knife just kisses the bottom of the level when turned. I set it for about 3/32 cut depth.
It is pretty straight forward to adjust this one.
Thanks Again
Re: Jointer edge not right. What am I doing wrong.
Edited #7
I'll use this topic to point out something I recently learned about this forum. See the check mark above Mike's reply above? That means his reply was selected, by a moderator, as a "solution" to the topic. When you view the indices of forums, topics with "solutions" will have a check next to them.
It's neat little feature that I guess could be useful. I've seen it in a lot of technical forums where almost every topic is a problem needing a solution. Sometimes readers are able to vote on how relevant a reply is and those replies get pushed to the top. This doesn't have voting and a moderator or admin has to select one reply as the solution.
Also noting almost no one is using the "Like" feature that was requested. It doesn't do anything except display a smiley with a count next to how many there were. I suppose it could be used as a solution indicator, where replies with lots of "Thumbs Up" are considered good solutions. That would probably help a moderator determine which reply was considered the best solution by readers.